Year-round Students Near Break

HAMPTON — It may only be October, but for three Hampton schools that began classes in early August, it's already breaktime.

As part of the new year-round school calendar, students from Spratley Middle School, Merrimack Elementary School and Smith Elementary School get a two-week break at the end of the first quarter.

That break starts Monday. But don't expect many parents to be taking their kids to Disney World.

Many parents are sending their children back to school to take remedial classes in English and math. Others are sending their children back to participate in two-week ``enrichment'' programs, such as Etiquette for Teens, Introduction to German and Advanced Physical Education.

Randall Willis said his two sons will be spending their break time back at school. One because he likes it, said Willis, the other because he needs it.

The younger boy, an artistic fourth-grader at Merrimack, will be taking an enrichment class called ``Lights, Camera, Action!'' where he'll learn how to use multimedia computer programs, as well as digital and video cameras.

The older son, a seventh-grader at Spratley Middle School, will be taking a remedial math class. The child was failing halfway through the quarter.

``It seemed like most of his grades were pretty good, except for the math,'' said Willis, a single parent. ``I thought it was good for him to participate in the remediation, bump up that math grade. It's bound to help.''

Robin Langille said her third-grade son would be taking a remedial writing class at Smith Elementary.

``I think it's very important,'' she said. ``He's at a third-grade level; he just has some points he needs to make stronger, like punctuation.''

She said her son doesn't seem to mind too much because the remedial classes are only for half a day.

Nine-year-old Kiara McCummings will be taking an introductory Internet class at Smith.

``I'm looking forward to learning how to work the computers and stuff,'' said the fourth-grader, who already uses the computers in class to help her with math and reading. ``I want to learn about computers because computers seem easier to learn on.''

Kiara said she'd rather be in school than on vacation anyway.

``I don't like going on vacations,'' she said, ``because you have to sit in the car for a long time.''

Tammy Keiper said she encouraged her son, an eighth-grader at Spratley, to take an enrichment class that will use computers for science investigation.

Though her son, Raymond, already uses the computer for school work, she said she wanted him to become more familiar with using the Internet for research. Her son seems to have warmed up to the idea.

``I pretty much like it,'' he said. ``The computer classes are kind of neat.''

Even parents who are using this time to take family vacations aren't necessarily pulling out the Mickey Mouse ears.

Mark Hovis, a Navy chief petty officer who has two daughters at Smith Elementary, said his family is going be spending the two weeks getting ready to move - to Bahrain in the Middle East.

He said the family will be spending time fixing up and selling the house, packing and visiting relatives. Shortly after the two weeks end, the Hovis family will be spending the next two years overseas.

But Hovis quickly added that if he weren't going overseas, he'd definitely be taking a family vacation during this time. It's usually easier for military families to get time off during non-traditional vacation seasons.

``Because we're in the military, we're more flexible,'' he said.

FALL SCHOOL?

Here is a sampling of special classes being offered to students on the year-round calendar during the two-week break:

* Math Madness: For grades 1 and 2, students will play math games and explore concepts that involve critical thinking skills and promote creativity.

* Chocolate Fever: For grades 3-5, students read literature with chocolate as a theme, to enhance creativity, increase comprehension skills and oral expression.

* African Studies/Greek Studies: For middle school, students will learn about the music, dance, language, history and literature of these cultures.

Sandra Tan can be reached at 247-7854 or by e-mail at stan@dailypress.com